1. Field
This relates to an air conditioner.
2. Background
In general, air conditioners provide cooling/heating to an indoor space and/or purify air using a refrigerant cycle including a compressor, condenser, an expansion mechanism, and an evaporator. Some air conditioners may include a single indoor unit connected to a single outdoor unit. Other, multi-type air conditioners may include a plurality of indoor units connected to one or more outdoor units to provide the effect of a plurality of air conditioners. In a multi-type air conditioner, when a heating operation is continuously performed, frost may accumulate on an outdoor heat exchanger. During a defrosting process, one outdoor unit of a plurality of outdoor units may perform a cooling operation, with the defrosting process being performed on an outdoor heat exchanger of the outdoor unit in which the cooling operation is performed. However, since the remaining outdoor units continue to perform a heating operation, heating efficiency may be deteriorated due to the defrosting operation.
An air conditioner may include a plurality of indoor units and a plurality of outdoor units connected to the plurality of indoor units. Each of the plurality of outdoor units may include a plurality of outdoor heat exchangers. Each of the outdoor heat exchangers may include a plurality of heat exchanger parts. When a defrosting operation condition is satisfied during a heating operation, indicating that a defrosting operation should be performed the plurality of heat exchanger parts of the plurality of outdoor heat exchangers may successively perform the defrosting operation.